Sunday, March 28, 2010

Have you ever visited Alisa Burke's blog? She has fun stuff to do all the time. Fun classes based on her book and all kinds of new crafty things to make or just look at and admire.Go there - http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/ as soon as you can.

She is amazing.

Inspired by her "messy painting" techniques, I washed a couple of canvas totes that were beige and boring and turned them into these colorful bags.

This bag is for my "stuff". I got a lot of practice doing stencil painting and was surprised at how much I liked it.

Of course, following Melisa's lead, everything is supposed to be messy, so no rules are broken when you have blurred images.

Yeah! Freedom!

This is the first one I painted and got really strung out on hot pink and orange. Oh, how I love hot pink and orange.

See the black drips? Another very freeing technique that is fine to do on canvas because it is so sturdy.

It just doesn't matter that all this craft paint makes the tote a little stiff at first. Using it softens it right up.

This is the back. Looks like it could be the front, it's so pretty.

I also got some little totes to give to my grandchildren with matching coin purses, too.

If I stuff them with books, candy, toys and money, maybe they will actually use them!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I can see why it would be wise to post as I finish things. The weeks do go by awfully fast and the reason I started this blog was just to keep a small journal of my art work wanderings.But, then again, I never figured on working outside of my home at the time. That really does make a big difference in the way each day is used up.Oh well, a short list of some of February when I wasn't at the office or working on those darn insurance claims and "explanation of benefits" payment distributions.

I took a delightful class on-line with Sharon Tomlinson at http://allnorahsart.ning.com/She is a gifted teacher and has wonderful videos on how to use craft paints to paint portraits.Her style is loose, but not doll like. She is careful to show you what colors she is using to do the shading as she goes along.I highly recommend this class if you are interested in seeing shading in acrylic paint.My samples were fun to do, but not as loose as I was aiming for. I still blend, blend, blend and end up with a lot more realism than I would like. Oh well, someday, I will make it the way I want - LESS CONTROLLED!!!!

Meanwhile back at our front yard, we now have a bunny. He apparently hopped over two streets to try out the cat food I leave for our feral feline friends.(note to self- don't put food out for hungry animals no matter how cute they are. They will think you are their mama and will keep on coming back)This all started in 1993 when our then 16 year old cat was not eating and just sitting out front on the roof waiting for the grim reaper. Instead, a fluffy, but starving and pregnant female showed up. They fell in love. I took her to the vet for surgery, shots and a bath. They stayed outside most of the time because she was mostly feral and didn't trust the closed in space of a house. Our cat, Tabby, started eating again. And playing, and cuddling with his beautiful lady friend. The food, however, had to be outside in order to fatten her up. Long story short- he lived 5 more years and every stray in the"we sniffed your food" range came to stay.Now we have about 8 feral cats, 4 neighborhood visitors and this bunny who shows up for three squares a day.I love it. When I come home from work, it's almost dark and I see many golden eyes slanted my way, and much meowing sings me into my front door. When I return with food, I get a chance to pet their furry bodies while they chow down. Bunny tries to hump everybody, but he gets swatted quite smartly by each in turn. Eventually he quits sniffing bums and lines up around the plate to chew, chew, chew the Meow Mix.It was my 64th birthday this month and boy am I glad. One more year and I can get Medicare!Just kidding. But, no, really, I do need to get some kind of health insurance. Really.

This is what I did to take a break from making portraits in February. I started out with an old canvas covered with lots of color that I didn't want to try to fix. I layered it with lots of browns, scratched into the paint with a stylus and then just looked for what might want to be painted. Much to my surprise, this is what I saw. So following my gut, as Mystele teaches, ( another really great teacher with amazing and fun classes) I saw these figures on a grassy plain. I see Mother and child and a symbol of one's soul.My husband saw faceless, hooded figures with a big bird. He's very literal.Now he is very worried about me.

About Me

Remember these words of Maya Angelou: "Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, but you get art there and you try and sometimes it really happens. The other times you're just stretching your soul."